But Then What Happened
by thebuzz1919
Summary: To everyone else, she still looked like the perfect child, but it was all an act. She had perfected the plastic smile, and she knew which limits to push and which not too. She had become the classic definition of a Hartford society child.
1. Chapter 1

It was one night. One night, and one person, that left her with nothing. It took away her mother, her father, and everything that she had ever known. It was one person who had a few too many drinks, but decided to drive home anyway. He single handedly took away everything. And all he did was press down on the gas petal longer then he should have. That was all it took for him to run the red light, and take her parents' lives.

He killed her mother, he killed her father, and he changed her life forever.

Since that night, everything that had once been home and safety was suddenly out of her life. The definition of Rory Gilmore was forever changed.

She was no longer Stars Hollow's princess. She was not the same level headed girl that had a crazy coffee addiction, the ability to eat her body weight in hamburgers and chili fries, and an unhealthy love for books.

Now, Rory could barely look at a cup of coffee, she would eat the 5-star, 3-course meals that her grandmother would provide every night without putting much thought into what she was actually consuming, and she would only read the books that were required for her studies.

She was still polite and well-mannered, and she still had her witty sense of humor. But there was just something different about her. Ever since that night, the little sparkle that used to twinkle in her eyes was gone. She still went through the motions, but she wasn't passionate about anything anymore.

Looking back on those events now, Rory realized how good her life was considering the circumstances. At the time she though that she had hit rock bottom, but she came to realize that she had no idea. She didn't know that living with her grandparents, and being away from Stars Hollow was the best it would get for a while.

For the first two years, everything was manageable. She was allowed to stay to herself, and she rarely had to attend any society functions. She began attending Chilton Prep halfway through her freshman year, and she was getting the best education possible. She worked on the school paper, The Franklin, and she loved it. It was one of the only places that she had been truly happy and felt at home ever since that horrible night. But Rory didn't know that this would only last for a short period of time.

Looking back on it, she would have to say that the changing point was the day that she turned 16. After that she no longer had her space. Her grandmother was constantly in her face, and she was no longer allowed to shut herself in her room. She was required to eat breakfast with her grandparents everyday. And every weekend night, as well as a few nights during the week were spent being showed off at one function or another.

Emily insisted that she have a coming out party, and that she started to play a vital role in society. According to Emily, she was a Gilmore, and a fine young lady at that, and they needed to quit hiding her away from the world. 

Once that change took place, Rory changed yet again. She went from a soft spoken, well-mannered girl that was still mourning the loss of her parents to a cold girl that was rebelling whenever she could. While she was still courteous to others, and she would converse with others when she had too, there was an iciness about her that was never there before. Whenever she could, she would avoid contact with anybody except for her friends.

This was also when she started hanging out with the limo boys, as she called them. Logan was her appointed escort to the debutante ball, and they had been inseparable ever since. Rory had fit into their group nicely, and she felt at home for the first time in three years. Finn made sure that Rory had fun, while Colin made sure that she didn't have too much fun. And Stephanie was like a sister, and the first girl friend that she had had since the last time she saw Lane Kim, three years ago. The group was the perfect balance, and they became like her family.

Rory also learned that she didn't need to be an angel. It was okay for her to act out, and she didn't have to fall at her grandparent's feet. She was still a straight A student, and the editor of the Franklin, but she began to have fun as well. She loosened up, and she allowed herself to be happy.

She would join in the different pranks and trips that the group would initiate. While she was still the innocent of the group, the difference in her was still there. She would sneak away at events to help form sub-parties, and she was learning the perks of alcohol.

To everyone else, she still looked like the perfect child, but it was all an act. She had perfected the plastic smile, and she knew which limits to push and which not too. She had become the classic definition of a Hartford society child. 

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**AN:** So there it is, the first chapter of my first attempt at a multi chapter fic!  
Just sometimeline information:  
Lorelai and Chris died when Rory was 14, and she went to live with Emily and Richard. She is now 17, and begininng her senior year at Chilton.

Not every chapter will be written this way, as in there will be dialouge,and hopefully later ones will be longer too.  
And I'm sorry, but I tend to over use commas and other punctuation, so if the grammar is really bad, let me know?  
I'm not too sure about this, so please please please let me know what you think!  
Go ahead and review, you know you want to!! 


	2. Chapter 2

Logan groaned as he rolled over and reached for his phone. He was willing to do anything to get that annoying sound to go away.

"What the hell was that?" he asked not bothering with opening pleasantries. He knew that is was either Rory or Finn because they were the only people he knew that constantly changed their personal ring tones.

"Satisfaction…Benny Benassi," came the female voice, "Please don't tell me you haven't heard of it," she continued when he didn't respond.

"Hate to break it to you sweetheart, but I can't say that I have, and I can't say that I'm saddened by that. It sounded like my phone was farting."

Rory guffawed at that, and then continued by saying, "You must have answered too quickly, it gets better. Trust me."

"Something to look forward to," he replied dryly. "Just wondering, why are you calling me so early on a Sunday? Especially after the night you had last night, you should not be awake and functioning at this point."

"Well, I wouldn't be, but I happened to have a very unpleasant wake up call this morning."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Oh, yes."

"And do you care to elaborate?" He added when she hadn't continued.

"Sure, why not? It was Emily Gilmore showing me this 'gorgeous dress that I was to wear to a nice party tonight,'" Rory explained as she imitated her grandmother's voice. "In other words, this will be another one of those male meet and greets," she continued.

"Oh, Ror, I'm sorry," Logan replied, "We'll all be there, and I promise to beat up Jordan Chase if he comes anywhere near you."

"Thanks Logan, and I promise to make it up to you somehow."

"Oh, I can think of a few ways." He shot back, his comment laced with sexual undertones. That was the thing about those two; they would always banter back and forth, and while they would flirt, for the most part, they both felt only platonic feelings towards each other.

"Only in your dreams," Rory shot back.

"Speaking of dreams, I'm going to go back to sleep here, and I'll see you tonight."

"Ok, thank you, and you're amazing."

"You're welcome, and I know." With that Logan hung up the phone and went back to bed, while Rory got ready and left her house. She was hoping to avoid her grandmother until the party at 7:00.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Rory was trying, but failing to look interested in what the three guys in front of her were talking about when she felt a hand on her back, and looked to her side to see none other than Logan Huntzberger.

"Gentlemen, so nice to see you again," Logan said, laying on the charm.

"Oh Logan, so glad you're here. We were just talking about my family's new yacht."

"Sounds fascinating Stephen, but I'm sorry to say that I came over to ask if I could steal Rory away for a moment. There's something urgent that needs her attending too."

"Right, of course," Stephen said, "Rory, so nice talking to you, and nice to see you Logan."

There was a murmur of "nice to see you too" and "goodbye" from Rory and Logan before they walked away. Logan had lead Rory out to the pool house before she even realized what was happening.

When they walked through the door, they were greeted with the sight of Finn standing on a table with a bottle of scotch in his hand, while everyone else was sitting around him giggling.

"Hello love, come here and kiss the Aussie." Finn exclaimed as soon as he noticed Rory's presence.

Rory stood on her tip toes, and kissed Finn's cheek after he had jumped down from the table, she then asked, "Do I even want to know?" when Finn jumped back up, and proceeded to do a little jig.

"Probably not," Colin responded.

Logan went to get Rory a drink while Rory started walking towards the couch to sit down, but when she passed a nearby chair, an arm reached out and pulled her on top of her.

"So you're just going to ignore me? I see how it is." A perky blonde said, feigning hurt.

"Stephanie!" Rory exclaimed, "I didn't even see you."

"So now I'm not noticeable, way to make me feel good."

"No, that's not what I meant at all," Rory started, trying to cover up her misspoken words.

"Relax, I was joking." Stephanie cut her off as Logan came up to them and handed Rory a glass with something in it.

"What is this?" Rory asked with apprehension visible on her face.

"Sex on a beach"

"You know, I tend to prefer safe sex on a beach."

"Well, this is dirty, kinky, experimental sex on a beach."

"Good to know." Rory said as she took a sip and turned towards Stephanie, effectively dismissing Logan.

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

The night continued on in much the same manner. Rory drank enough to forget that her grandparents would be furious at her for leaving the party. But she was used to that, every week there was something that she did wrong according to them. It was obvious that they loved her, but her grandmother had gotten it into her head that Rory would still be the same girl, even through all of these changes, and that was simply not true.

Rory was dealing with her grief in her own way. All of the ties she had had with Lorelai had been cut off. She hadn't been to Stars Hollow or seen any of the town's folk since she moved in with her grandparents. So now she was staying connected with Lorelai in any way she could, which consisted of acting like her. In a way, Rory had become Lorelai. She wasn't doing it on purpose, but she had naturally done that.

She had always been the calm one, having Lorelai to fill the outgoing role in her life. But when she died, Rory didn't have that anymore, therefore she began to take that role over. She began to rebel. She wasn't focused on pleasing others anymore. Being happy with herself was more important now.

Because of that, Rory wasn't concerned with waking her grandparents as she clumsily stumbled through the house and into her room at 3:00 in the morning, where she quickly changed into pajamas and flopped into bed. She was not looking forward to waking up tomorrow to the splitting head ache that she knew would be there.

* * *

**AN:**

So, there it is, chapter 2. I'm sorry that it took longer to get out that I had hoped it would, but I have learned a valuable lesson in the past 2 weeks: It's hard to find time to write.  
I know it's pretty fluffy, but I'm trying to set up the story right now. It will get more interesting, I promise (I hope)!  
I would also like to send out a thousand thank yous to everyone who reviewed, they seriously make my day.  
And on that note, Please, Please, Please review! You know you want to...

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	3. Chapter 3

AN: So finally, another update. I have learned that the hardest part, is actually finding the time to sit down and write. So I am sorry that it took so long. I'm not thrilled with this chapter, and it's really short, but I figured I would put it out there as a birthday present to 2 of my friends. I pretty much have the rest of the story figured out, and it will probably end in less then 10 chapters. Anyways, on with the chapter. Happy Reading!

* * *

"Rory Gilmore

"Rory Gilmore!"

"Mmmmm"

"I demand you to answer me right now!"

When Rory just grounded in response, Emily Gilmore marched over to the windows, pulled open the blinds, and started tapping her foot impatiently.

"Grandmother," Rory replied tersely, "Must you be so loud?"

"Hmmm, well, considering that this is my house, I 'must be' whatever I chose to be." There was no reply, and Emily continued talking.

"You need to be ready for school in 45 minutes." Emily waited for a response, and when she got none she added, "I don't even want to know what you were up to last night. You know, you're growing up to be just…too much, just too much."

Emily trailed off at the end, and Rory knew that she wasn't going to say that. She was going to say that she was becoming her mother, but that was a taboo topic. Once the funeral was over, the number of times that Lorelai was mentioned began to shrink. Within a week, she was never mentioned again in that house.

Rory wasn't sure what was worse, pretending like Lorelai never existed, or the constant stream of unsympathetic apologies that she got for the first few days. Either way, Lorelai was gone, and that was the worst part.

XOXOXOXOXOX

Rory walked into Chilton, and went in search of her friends. When she found them by their lockers, she was immediately greeted by the others.

"Hey Ace, how's it going?"

"Oh, you know same old."

The truth was, they didn't know, they had no idea. She had told them that her parents died in a car accident when she was 14 when they had asked, but she never went into detail. They knew the basics, she was raised in Stars Hollow by her mother, and her father wasn't around much.

But they didn't know that her mom was her best friend, her confident, her savior. They didn't know that she still isn't sure how she gets through every day without talking to Lorelai about anything and everything. Rory figured that it was none of their business. It was a part of her past, and it didn't matter anymore. She had to get over it.

XOXOXOXOXOX

It was lunchtime, and Rory, Stephanie, Logan, Colin and Finn were all sitting around a table in the cafeteria.

"Love, would you like to accompany me to a shin-dig this fine evening?" Finn suddenly asked Rory.

"Oh no Finn, Ace here is going with me." Logan spoke for her.

"How about you Stephanie?"

"She's taken too." Colin replied.

"Man, it sucks when your mates are secretly pining over such fine sheilas." Finn exclaimed, oblivious to the looks that the four others shot him.

"Anyway, what is it that we apparently already have escorts to?" Steph asked.

"Party at the Stuffen-Puffs," Finn replied.

"Is that their real name?" Stephanie asked skeptically.

"Of course not, I just can't remember the real name. My brain is too busy trying to figure out a mommy-approved date to bring tonight, now that you two are claimed."

"Wait just a second here," Rory started. "Who says I'm going with you Logan? I was never asked. I was never wooed. I got no flowers, no chocolates, and no slow jam in the background."

A look of worry passed over Logan's face as her tried to think of a way to get Rory to go with him, but Rory saved him.

"I suppose if you were to bring me coffee whenever I wanted for two months, then I would consider going with you."

"What ever you say Ace, I'll be your slave if you want me too-"

"Yeah, a love slave." Finn butted in, but he was ignored.

"Yes, I'll go with you, but would it kill you to ask?"

"You better, or else there will be consequences." Rory glared at Logan when he smirked at her. "I'm serious!"

"Oh, I believe you Ace." Logan replied chuckling.

The bell rang, and they all headed to their next class.

It was just another day.

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AN: Please let me know what you thought. I absolutely love reviews, even if its only 1 word.

I just want to know if people are reading/enjoying this.

So go, press the pretty button!


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